Renew your Passport Online – Service yet to catch on.

JOHOR BARU: Although the Immigration Department has come up with a new system which enables people to renew and apply for their passports online from Sept 1, many are still opting to come to the department to do so.Businessman Zaifutddin Mohmod, 42, said he preferred to renew his passport by going to the Urban Transformation Centre (UTC) here as if he has any questions or faces problems with his application, he could seek help from the officers.

“Previously, my friend and I tried to renew our passports via online but the process took longer than expected due to some glitches in the system.

“It seems that the system is not ready yet as there were some errors when we tried to fill in the forms and it gets stuck on one page and takes time before we can proceed to the next one,” he told The Star when met at UTC in Galleria Kotaraya here recently.

Zaifutddin, who was there to renew his passport for a golf trip to Jakarta soon, said he had no complaints about the long queue at the centre as all the counters were open and he could get his renewed passport within one hour.

Production manager Roger Lim, 54, who was there with his 20-year-old daughter, Wendy, to renew her passport for a trip to Korea next week said as of now he still preferred to get the service done at the centre because it helped him to spend more time with his family.

“I don’t mind the one hour wait at the centre but will try to use the online method next time.

“If it is more convenient and hassle free, I think I should give it a try,” said the father of three.

Contract worker Tan Chang Kang, 25, who was there for one hour since 2pm, said although he has not tried the online method yet, he still preferred to do it manually as he could get his passport on the spot.

“To me, it will be a hassle to do it online as it requires a lot of details and if we are unsure of certain instructions, there will be no one to assist us” said Tan who is planning to go to Vietnam soon.

When contacted, Johor Immigration Department director Datuk Rohaizi Bahari said that since Sept 1, the department has received more than 36 applications for passport renewal online.

He said that since they launched the system, the situation at UTC and their department in Setia Tropika was still under control but that there were still a lot of people who were not aware of the online service.

“The online method is convenient to those who do not have much time to go through the whole process at the counter while the manual way will be more practical if there are not many people queuing for the same service at one time,” he said.

Rohaizi added that the public should not panic about getting their passports renewed on time as there were several methods and channels for them to do so.